68th Regiment Photo found need help!

That's what I am saying - Park Hall camp was a major Royal Artillery training centre during the National Service area, and this suggests that the people in the photograph are all National Servicemen (It is also slighty confusing that this thread is entitled "68th Regiment Photo", because the 68th Regiment was an infantry regiment, whereas the 68th Regiment RA was an integral part of the Royal Artillery).

 

so they have just joined maybe that's why they are all smiling they haven't gone through the tough training yet !
I've been in contact with the Veterans UK website and they have provided me with useful information on how I can request service records from MOD and suggested to contact the Royal British Legion and see if they could assist by way of a publication to advertise for people to come forward or check their website

 

They also have a page on Facebook, but it seems to be studenty stuff. As I say, there are no old buildings left there now. It's purpose-built student accommodation (daughter works in the next street along, in fact). What I'm trying to warn is that any letter of enquiry sent there would be returned by RM?

 

Oh well done. The power of Facebook, eh!

 

Just like to clear something up, I think it would pay to keep an open mind about National service versus Regular Servicemen in the photo. Oswestry is likely to train both NS & Regulars, if so and if those in the photo are undergoing the initial training period (first 6 weeks for the REME) then they would be likely to be either all National Servicemen in the photo or all Regulars.

If they had completed the initial square bashing (marching etc) training period and were undergoing another type of training e.g. Gunnery then the people in the photo could be a mixture of National Servicemen and Regulars.

The above is based on my experience of the REME, of course it is possible the RA did things differently but probably not.
My first six weeks as a National Serviceman in the REME were spent at Blandford Forum in Dorset being taught how to march, salute, shoot, mount guard etc etc. The intake was split into two companies, A comp were all Regulars and B Company were all National Servicemen. In my group photo it was comprised of only B Company plus the Sergeant, Corporal and Lance Corporal responsible for training us. After that initial six weeks we were then sent to various other centres for Trade Training, at those centres we were a mix of NS and Regulars.

I did my Armourer training at St George Barracks at Gosport.

If Oswestry had a firing range large enough for Gunnery training then RA recruits would probably stay at Oswestry.

 

Thinking about my comments in reply #19, your grandfather could also have been a regular serviceman for a short period, many of those young guys liable for National Service took another option. They signed on for a three year period which gave them better pay and the option of continuing in the Army if they wished to after the three year period. Not sure what their pay would have been but when I was conscripted in 1955, my pay for a period of 19 weeks was 1 pound and eight shillings per week less four shillings (per week) for the National Health Scheme contribution. After the 19 week period and having passed my Armourer's Trade course I was paid three pounds 12 shillings per week less of course the 4 bob. Quite a come down for me by the time I was conscripted I had been on 10 pound per week in civvy street for three months, boy did that hurt.

 

In 1958 Park Hall Camp was divided in two by a main road. One side was 68 Regiment which was a selection regiment for the Royal Artillery, you spent the first 10 days of your service there, then you were posted to 17th Regiment R.A. which was located across the road in Park Hall Camp for the rest of your basic training, or some went to Rhyl, North Wales ( I think the drivers & signallers went there). After your square bashing, you then went for trade training.

 

As a matter of interest, there is a significant amount of ex-military infrastructure at Park Hall. The camp originated during the First World War, when a hutted encampment was established in the grounds of a large Tudor mansion known as Park Hall. Part of the site was later adapted for use as an orthopaedic hospital, the first patients being transferred from Baschurch in 1919, while the hospital was formally opened by the Marchioness of Cambridge on 5 August 1921. The Park Hall site was reactivated for military purposes during the Second World War, and for the next few years the camp functioned as a military training centre. I am unsure of the role of the hospital during World War Two - the site having become detached from the military complex by that time. Park Hall itself was burned down by ill-disciplined officers during a Christmas party on 27 December 1918 (if they had been ordinary soldiers they would have been severely punished for such a deed, but the army seems to have regarded the incident the result of "high spirits".

 

This is 5 section of the same, taken a few months earlier...

 

I have just found a similar photo with my father in it dated October 1950 in 199 battery 68 regiment. He only did his national service. He wasn't in the army. I've never known if they were actually deployed anywhere.

 

If he did his National Service and with the Royal Artillery then he was in the Army, the main difference between National Servicemen and the Regular Servicemen was that:-

Regular Servicemen volunteered for service (minimum service three years), National Servicemen didn't volunteer they were forced to join for two years.

Regular Servicemen were paid more than National Servicemen.

Additionally the Regulars were issued with a Dress (Blues) Uniform, National Servicemen were not issued with a Dress Uniform.

As far as our work/duties were concerned there was no difference between the Regulars and National Servicemen, in the Armourers workshop I served in there about half were Regulars the rest National Servicemen.

 

Great photo

 

That was a lot of money in those days. My husband was on a 'so called' good wage of £9 a week when we got married in 1966

 

If he wasn't in for long, it may have just been swallowed up in the times as everyone seemed to have done national service or a short spell in the forces.

 

For those still interested, i have a photo of the 68th Regiment R.A, around 2 years later.

 

Nice clear face shots.

 

Thanks, i'll update the photo when i scan them in in the next few days. I've had no luck with any information on them other than one is my dad, passed away around 15 years ago, but there's got to be a couple of the lads still about.

 

This is a fantastic photograph. I have quite a few military photos and I cannot make out any of the faces. I wish that I could.

 

I have found a picture of my dad in nearly the same position as this one - I'll try to post it if I can work out how to My Dad's was the 67th Regiment 1949 and I know he did National Service.